USD 336 gets grant for COVID-19 testing

The Holton school district has been awarded a grant totaling $501,725 through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to do COVID-19 antigen testing this school term and now is in the process of seeking to hire three registered nurses full time, three lab technicians to staff the testing program for each of the school buildings and a communication specialist. A total of $98,750 of the KDHE funds are for test supplies. The balance of $402,975 in KDHE funds is direct funding to the school district for the COVID-19 testing program, it was reported.

The district plans to offer the testing, which is not considered painful but more like a swab inside the nose, at all three attendance centers to allow students and staff to be tested before school and when a student or staff member is in close contact after contact tracing. The district will use appropriate rooms that offer privacy, can provide structure, and maintain confidentiality, it was reported.

At Monday evening’s school board meeting, held at the high school library, a motion was approved on a 6-0 vote to seek a lease on a 10 ft. x 50 ft. mobile unit for three years from PAC-VAN, a division of United Rentals of Kansas City, Mo., that will be placed at the Holton Middle School campus, in front of the school at the east edge near the street, for three years, with the zoning approval of the city of Holton. The lease will cost $7,260 per year. School officials said the middle school did not have any available space to do the testing.

For more on this story, log in to your holtonrecorder.net account and click on the Oct. 13, 2021 edition under “E-Editions.”